Posts Tagged: fresh

Alkali spot grows weeds instead of tomatoes

Last summer, I transplanted a tomato variety trial into a field not far from Dos Palos, an area where annual crops such as cotton, corn, tomatoes, and melons have historically dominated the agricultural landscape. The soils in this area typically are clay loams with elevated pH (> 7) as well as...

What's the Buzz? How Tomatoes Are Pollinated

California's tomato crop (processing and fresh) was worth $1.7 billion in 2015; our state grows 96% of the US crop of processing tomatoes. A sure sign of summer, this tasty and nutritious specialty crop is a source of vitamins A, B6, C, E, and K as well as thiamin, niacin, folate,...

How do we get better food in our schools?

According to FoodCorps, only 2% of children eat enough fruits and vegetables. Kids in the south suffer from very high rates of obesity. 1 in 3 children born in 2000 are on track to develop type II diabetes and 50% of children of color are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetimes. That's an astounding number.

So how do we fix this? Debra Eschmeyer of FoodCorps (and speaker at California Roots, Global Reach) says we start with the schools.

Watch her video to see how:

 

Infusing nutrition education into an LA County vegetable garden initiative

Two weeks ago, my colleague wrote about LA County Cooperative Extension’s popular “Grow LA Victory Garden” initiative – Resources for beginning vegetable gardeners develop from LA initiative. This exciting initiative has achieved great success in LA County over the past two years by teaching more than 1,100 beginner gardeners how to grow their own vegetables at home through Master Gardener-led classes.     

These classes impart an array of useful skills onto beginner gardeners, potentially translating into positive outcomes, such as improved diet and savings on groceries. 

What to do with all of that home-grown produce?

Teaching novices how to grown their own food at home is one thing, but what are they going to actually do with all of that produce once it is harvested? Often a dilemma for beginner and experienced gardeners alike! This is where Fresh from the Garden comes into play.

With funding from the UC Agriculture Sustainability Institute - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, we were able to incorporate nutrition lessons and cooking demonstrations into the 4-week garden series by training Master Gardener volunteers to deliver Fresh from the Garden lessons into low-income community gardens. This is a resource that was designed to increase gardeners' knowledge of healthful eating habits, while emphasizing the health benefits associated with a vegetable-rich diet. Each Fresh from the Garden lesson features preparation and tasting of a healthy fresh vegetable recipe. Through these lessons, the beginner gardeners learned how to store, prepare and cook a wide variety of home-grown vegetables alongside the gardening instruction.

Reaping the benefits of vegetable gardening

We found that combined gardening, nutrition and cooking instruction encouraged novice gardeners to make important changes in their diets. By the end of the 4-week series, the participants said they were eating more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. What’s more, they were much more confident in their skills to prepare and cook home-grown vegetables. By the end of the 4-week series, 90 percent of participants surveyed said they could prepare and cook home-grown vegetables. This group was also very interested in trying different types of vegetables and all said they were willing to serve them to their families.

Through this project we have demonstrated promising results with the combination of gardening, cooking and nutrition instruction. We plan to continue the delivery of Fresh from the Garden in the coming year through the UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program in coordination with the Master Gardener Program. CalFresh (formerly Food Stamp) participants are allowed to use their benefits to purchase seeds and plants for household consumption, which opens the door for exciting possibilities for this program!

A 'multi-million dollar food fight' heats up, plus other recent news coverage

Alison Van Eenennaam, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis, commented on a KCRA news segment about Proposition 37, an initiative on California's November ballot that, if passed, would require special labeling on products that contain genetically modified ingredients.

The reporters called the proposition a "multi-million dollar food fight."

"All of the data that's come out from the American Medical Association and National Academy of Sciences have all agreed that the food products on the market today that are genetically engineered are safe," Van Eenennaam told the reporter

Polls show the 'Yes on Proposition 37' campaign  is "way ahead" of those who oppose the initiative, "but there's a long way to go until November," the reporter said.

Vision still pays dividends after 150 years
Sacramento Bee editorial

The Sacramento Bee editorial staff called the 1862 Congress of the United States one of the most productive in American history. One of the reason was it's passage of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act July 2, 1862. The act created the world's best system of public colleges and universities for people of modest means, the editorial said. Previously most Americans had no access to higher education. California took up the land-grant offer in 1864 and the University of California was born – at Berkeley – in 1868. Later, the University Farm would become UC Davis. The Citrus Experiment Station would become UC Riverside.

Building a better, tastier tomato
Lauren Sommer, QUEST Northern California, KQED

Lauren Sommer interviewed Ann Powell, associate researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, about her finding that the gene that creates "green shoulders" in tomatoes influences the amount of sugar in the ripe fruit. Powell says now that they know about this gene, plant breeders could put it back in commercial varieties.

Bees need a hand, especially in drought
Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee

In honor of National Honeybee Day, the Sacramento Bee paid homage to the indispensable pollinator with information about the challenges it faces. Colony collapse disorder, drought and urbanization take their toll. There was some good news: "Bees got through the winter a little better," said Eric Mussen, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, apiculture. "This spring, we saw bigger, earlier and more swarms." However, nationwide, the hot dry summer has made it a tough year for honey production.

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